Tuesday Morning Briefing: Trump's adviser to testify about concerns over Ukraine call

Highlights

One of President Donald Trump’s top advisers on European affairs is set to testify that he told a government lawyer about concerns that U.S. national security could be undermined after a phone call between Trump and Ukraine’s president. Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs on the National Security Council, says he listened in on the call in which Trump asked Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Wind-driven wildfires burned largely uncontrolled in tinder-dry California, as firefighters battled blazes threatening thousands of homes in a race against time with even stronger gusts expected later. Thousands of residents have already fled and hundreds of thousands of others were left in the dark with power companies cut off electricity to try to prevent more fires being sparked.

Three-peat? Fed copies 1990s playbook in bid to avert a downturn. In the midst of what became a golden decade for the U.S. Federal Reserve, central bankers twice in the 1990s cut interest rates in short bursts that managed to help the U.S. economy continue growing despite slowing investment and weak growth overseas. Today’s Fed hopes a third time proves just as charmed.

Trump tweet and political divisions fuel rising discourse about new U.S. civil war. Sporting a Confederate flag shirt near a field clouded by cannon smoke, where blue- and gray-clad soldiers reenacted a Civil War battle from 155 years ago, Larry Caldwell Piercy, Jr. said he sees a new war looming in the United States - and a role for himself in any fighting.

World

Baghdadi leaves bitter legacy in city he terrorized. When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took to the pulpit of Iraq’s historic al-Nuri mosque to declare his caliphate in 2014, residents of Mosul had no idea the extent to which their city would be devastated. "He came to our mosque, a place of peace for us, and he turned it into a place of hell," said Fahd Qishmou, who attended Baghdadi’s infamous speech.

Britain is heading toward a December election after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s bet on breaking the Brexit deadlock with an early vote gained support from opposition parties. Meanwhile, the legislation enacting Johnson’s Brexit deal has been put on hold.

Hong Kong authorities disqualified prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on Tuesday from standing in upcoming district elections, a move likely to sow discord among anti-government demonstrators as an illegal Halloween march looms. Wong was 17 when he became the face of the 2014 student-led Umbrella Movement.

A 36-year-old Nepali became the fastest climber to summit the world’s 14 highest mountains on Tuesday, scaling all the mountains in just over six months, his hiking agency said, a feat other climbers have taken several years to complete.

Business

Saudi Aramco aims to begin planned IPO on Nov. 3

Saudi Aramco aims to announce the start of its initial public offering on Nov. 3, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after delaying the deal earlier this month. The oil company is looking to float a 1% to 2% stake on the kingdom’s Tadawul market, in what would be one of the largest ever public offerings.

4 min read

Boeing CEO to face tough questions from U.S. lawmakers

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg will begin the first of two days of testimony Tuesday before U.S. lawmakers and will face tough questions on the crashes of two 737 MAX planes, which killed 346 people and sparked calls for reforms.

3 Min Read

Beyond Meat butchered as stock no-sale period ends

Shares of Beyond Meat sank on Tuesday, as a lock-up period for its early backers ended, freeing them up to cash in on this year’s doubling in its share price after results which pointed to growing costs at the plant-based meat success story.

3 min read

GM profit tops estimates but U.S. strike weighs on outlook

General Motors posted a better-than-expected quarterly net profit thanks to robust U.S. sales of high-margin pickup trucks and SUVs, but slashed its full-year earnings forecast citing the impact of a 40-day U.S. labor strike.

2 min read

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